Music: Trampled by Turtles are coming to town

Thursday

May 3, 2018 at 3:23 PMMay 3, 2018 at 7:14 PM

Trampled by Turtles, despite its whimsical name, has always had lofty ambitions. The quintet from Duluth, Minn., seeks to mash rock, folk, bluegrass, and even a bit of punk into exciting new music, with lyrics that speak to an emotional resonance rare in popular music.

But Trampled by Turtles had succeeded quite well in that singular quest, since their formation in 2003. Their debut album "Songs from a Ghost Town" in 2004 got them noticed nationally right away, and their shows won over devoted fans coast to coast. The band's fifth album, 2010's "Palomino" spent 52 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Bluegrass chart, they performed on "The Late Show with David Letterman," their music was used on the soundtrack to TV's "The Deadliest Catch", and more recently one of their songs is on the 2018 video game "Far Cry 5."

Trampled by Turtles is releasing its first new studio album in four years, "Life Is Good on the Open Road" today (May 4) on their own Banjodad Records label, and their tour swings through the House of Blues in Boston on Tuesday night.

Trampled By Turtles' 2014 album "Wild Animals" was often cited as their best yet, as primary songwriter Dave Simonett examined the impermanence of life in general, and dealt obliquely with the way his life had gotten away from the simplicity of the outdoors he loved. His lyrics tend to be poetic and filled with imagery that tells an emotional story, but not in linear form. "Are You Behind the Shining Star?" from that 2014 album, for example, could be seen as a reflection of life on the road, a stunning portrait of cognitive dissonance, even as the insistent folk-rock arrangement rides a faster and faster tempo.

Elsewhere on that record, the title cut "Wild Animals" seemed a wistful elegy for a simpler life, and "Come Back Home" achieved the difficult task of utilizing precise imagery to serve a general theme, crafting a classic lost-love ballad into a rapid-tempo, banjo-fired romp that could also be seen as just a brave attempt to carry on when life is changing too fast for comfort.

But a funny thing happened after all those accolades for the previous album. Trampled By Turtles went home and went on a nice long hiatus. They didn't even stay in touch with each other that much.

Now the new album's songs are more exhilarating and joyful than usual, as if the band and Simonett are enthused about getting back on the road. A song like "Kelly's Bar" is a positively rollicking ode to the cast of characters in a local tavern, a vignette most people will be able to appreciate. "We All get Lonely," is a finely textured farewell song with a cinematic quality to its ethereal sweep, yet its gorgeous arrangement leaves you feeling it's just a temporary parting. "Blood in the Water" has its own urgency, a potent need to escape and find new frontiers.

"It ended up being a really healthy break," said Simonett from his Minnesota home before the tour began this week. "We spend so much time together when we're on the road, it had felt like it was time to get away. When we got back together in the studio to talk about a new record, it felt great to get back at it."

"Part of it taking four years between records was my taking time off, because I had other things to do with my time, musically and otherwise," Simonett explained. "Trampled on tour is so confining that I could not physically find my own time. Part of it was time out at home, which was reserved for my kids. But I definitely needed some space - I think we all did - and it became a great experience. That change of perspective was necessary, and then it got to the point of missing the band, missing the guys, and we all sort of knew we were ready to go back to work."

Would casual listeners be correct is assuming that, just as the 2014 album reflected a weariness with the road, this new CD embraces exploring new territory? As 'Wild Animals" was colored with introspection and wistful regret, "Life is Good on the Open Road" bears a more outgoing theme?

"Is it more extroverted? It felt that way in my writing, too" said Simonett. "It is kind of an unconscious process, what my songs end up feeling like. But I would say that these new songs do reflect my state of mind, which is more settled and extroverted."

Simonett's lyrics are more poetic, almost stream of consciousness in their images, and he's always struggled to write the common linear narrative, from Point A to Point B.

"I've actually always had trouble trying to write that other way," said Simonett. "Right now I'm looking at my dog, and I would have trouble writing a song about him that went in a straight line. I wish I knew where some of these things come from, when I'm writing, but it is kind of an unusual process."

The producer of Trampled By Turtles' last album referred to their sound as "a wall of strings," and the interplay between Simonett's guitar, Dave Carroll's banjo, Erik Berry's mandolin, Ryan Young's fiddle, and Tim Saxhaug's bass is one of the group's most striking features. When you add in their stellar vocal harmonies, behind Simonett's lead vocals, it seems like there must be incredibly complex arrangements involved.

"Working with an outside producer for 'Wild Animals' we did spend a lot of time arranging that music," Simonett reported. "But with this one, we didn't have to do that. We had some songs done, which we'd played out already, so we didn't have to practice them in the studio. But generally, we wanted to go for playing them just a couple times in the studio. That first or second take so often has magical things happening, so that's what we aimed for, instead of spending a lot of time agonizing over it. Unless it felt wrong, we did most of this album that way. We just sat in a circle in the studio, and did this one really live. It felt much more like a natural process, and not something we spent a lot of time dissecting."

That second sense musicians develop from years of playing together is an intrinsic part of Trampled by Turtles' sound, which often features dazzling solos, but never at the expense of a song's momentum. It is primarily a sound that is all about teamwork and supporting each other.

"I know that sort of 'musicians'-ESP' is something we've developed over the years," Simonett said. "I'm not sure when I first noticed it, but it is a large part of why we're still a band. It is hard to describe what it is to play music with somebody when you have that connection, when you know what they're going to do before they do it. It's a vibe, a great feeling of being in the moment together. Playing with other people, in some of my other projects was also good, but it was somewhat like learning a new language, and we did have to vocalize what we wanted to do a lot more. "

"I think our goal is always to sound more like a single unit, than to have a lot of people stepping forward," Simonett added. "I like that in most music anyway. We're still learning as we go. We are not fancy musicians by any measure, and we all learned from playing with each other."

The song on the new CD, "Thank You John Steinbeck," is a warm ode to the healing properties of travel and exploration. It turns out to be inspired by one of Simonett's favorite books.

"I have always loved Steinbeck's 'Travels with Charlie,' where, later in life, he takes a road trip with his dog," said Simonett. "That has always been one of my favorites, and I like to re-read that book before every tour starts, to get myself pumped up for the new things ahead."

Fans can expect to hear lots of those new things on this tour. Even if this is the band's eighth studio album, and they have a lengthy songbook, they are eager to introduce the new tunes too.

"We will be playing a lot of this album on the tour," Simonett said. "That's the impetus of this whole thing, and for us it is a big deal to have a tour with new songs. That might no be everybody's favorite thing to hear right away, but even if we did ten of the (12) songs, that's still less than half of our show, so people will hear plenty of our older stuff too. We haven't played Boston for a while, so we're excited to get back there with this new music."